Overseas Buyers Attracted to Value in Australia
Real estate continues to be the focal point of foreign investment in Australia, with total foreign investment in Australian real estate increasing to $28.7 billion in 2003-04, a rise from $21.9 billion the previous year.
The 2003-04 annual report of the Foreign Investment Review Board, released this month, shows that in 2003-04, there were 3,945 approvals for foreign investment in residential real estate, with a total value of $18.31 billion.
Of these, 574 proposals were for "off the plan" purchases valued at about $300 million, as well as 292 applications by developers for advance approval to sell property off the plan.
There were 28 fewer approvals compared with the previous year, but the value rose by $3 billion, to $9.1 billion.
Queensland attracted the highest level of interest at 38.6 per cent of the total, at a value of $7.28 billion.
The most significant investors in Australian real estate were from Singapore, with approvals valued at $3.37 billion.
Other investors were from the United Kingdom ($2.288 billion); United States ($1.629 billion); Malaysia ($1.065 billion); Japan ($906 million); Germany ($898 million); other European Union countries ($481 million); and China ($121 million)
.